Review: Jimmy Barnes concert, Defiant Tour, Adelaide Entertainment Centre, June 7, 2025

Despite three years of serious health battles, Aussie rock legend Jimmy Barnes has delivered an enthralling and high-energy opening show for his much-anticipated concert tour.

Way back in December, 1988, a spellbinding Jimmy Barnes introduced me to the sheer joy of live music at my first-ever concert.

Jimmy was fronting the Barnestorming tour and, as a country boy fresh out of high school, I was transfixed by his energy, enthusiasm and raw charm.

The show was at Thebarton Oval, Adelaide, the city where the Aussie legend endured a tumultuous childhood and rocked gritty pubs during Cold Chisel’s fledgling days.

Fast forward almost 37 years and Jimmy remains astonishingly captivating. Barnes stormed back to his Adelaide hometown on Saturday night to deliver a masterpiece opening show of his eight-date Defiant Tour.

Jimmy Barnes rocks out on stage at AEC Theatre, Adelaide, on Saturday night. Picture: Kelly Barnes

Brimming with energy and cheeky wit, Barnes defied his health struggles of the past three years – three hip replacements, plus back and open-heart surgery.

His voice was laden with power and its trademark timbre – a noticeable boost even from last November’s Cold Chisel concert at the Adelaide 500. Jimmy just looked and sounded healthy again.

This was an astonishing show – full of highlights – but a few stand out.

Barnes delivered the best version of Flame Trees I’ve seen in several solo and Chisel shows – his full-throated, yet melodic, delivery matching the wrenchingly emotional lyrics.

No Second Prize was extraordinarily punchy, with searing guitar solos that brought the mostly middle-aged audience to their dancing feet.

There was a defiant, assertive new vigour to this Barnes solo classic. The same treatment was delivered to Lay Down Your Guns, Ride the Night Away, Working Class Man and Driving Wheels.

Barnes was the generous, joyous ringleader of a seven-piece band – a little like Bruce Springsteen. Like the Boss, the band complemented, rather than overshadowed, its iconic frontman.

And, like Bruce, the love of Jimmy’s life, wife Jane, is a prominent member of the band. At one stage, he rhetorically asks the audience if we know her (of course, we feel like we do).

Barnes opened his ‘Defiant Tour’ in his home town of Adelaide. Picture: Kelly Barnes

Barnes defied his health battles of the past three years to put on a captivating performance. Picture: Kelly Barnes

Jimmy explains one of his new songs, Beyond the River Bend, is about their celebrated relationship – sometimes cool and calm, thundering at others.

Then, Bangkok-born Jane Barnes stands alongside her Glasgow-born music legend husband – she’s playing the bagpipes while he punches out the enormously catchy tune. It’s like a giant family singalong.

Songs from the new Defiant release dominate the first hour. They feature keyboard, organ, blistering guitar solos and pounding drums – a sound not dissimilar to the Stones’ classic Exile on Main Street.

Ahead of the final one, the title track, Barnes jokingly threatens to “play the whole f-ing lot” of the album. But it’s not often you go to a veteran rocker’s show and relish the new songs as much as these.

With an hour gone, though, he spends the next 40 minutes punching out the classics. Appropriately, the show culminates with the biggest and the best – Khe Sanh.

If the mostly sold-out Defiant Tour is anywhere near as good as its opener, do yourself a favour and snare a ticket in another city. It’s a modern-day classic.

Jimmy Barnes, The Defiant Tour 2025, Adelaide Entertainment Centre Theatre,

Saturday, June 8

Originally published as Review: Jimmy Barnes concert, Defiant Tour, Adelaide Entertainment Centre, June 7, 2025